Heat exchangers are used in a wide variety of applications and often include alternating fluid flow paths, with alternate ones of the flow paths carrying a refrigerant or coolant and the remaining flow paths carrying a heated medium to be cooled. Some or all of the flow paths also may include separate flow passages defined by corrugated plates sandwiched between generally planar plates. Examples of such heat exchangers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,151,676 to Otto et al, dated Aug. 17, 1961; 3,976,128 to Patel et al, dated Aug. 24, 1976; 4,352,273 to Kinsell et al, dated Oct. 5, 1982; and 4,460,388 to Fukami et al, dated July 17, 1984.
When such heat exchangers or evaporator systems are used in vehicles such as high performance aircraft, wherein the systems commonly are called vapor cycle cooling systems, continuing problems are encountered in maintaining an even distribution of the cooling medium, such as Freon. Such fluids utilized in these types of systems are subjected to varying, often high, "G" forces due to acceleration or deceleration of the aircraft and, equally as important, as a result of abrupt directional changes.
The above-described "G" forces make it quite difficult to insure good coolant or refrigerant distribution in the heat exchanger or evaporator. Without proper distribution, only a small portion of the evaporator may be provided with fluid, thus restricting the area through which heat transfer can occur. In other words, much of the heat transfer area between the Freon and the water or other medium would not be effectively employed. This operational characteristic substantially reduces the efficiency of the evaporator.
The invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a new and improved heat exchanger apparatus having a novel fluid distribution system.